The Dunedin City Council has approved a rates increase of 4% as it speeds up debt repayment.
The final decision was made at a council meeting on Monday afternoon, with little debate after months of public hearings and deliberations.
In January this year, council staff reported that they had shaved more than $2 million from costs and could deliver a rates rise of not much more than 2%.
However, councillors decided to levy an average increase of 4% anyway and put over $2 million into paying off the debt on the city's new stadium faster.
They also created a new fund worth $400,000 to lure large events to the facility and put money into balancing the books of the council's stadium management company.
Councillor Syd Brown praised the staff's action. "We've actually got a general rate increase of around two percent, but we're repaying debt, and that repayment of debt brings it up to the four percent. I think it's a sterling effort by the chief executive and the staff and I think the city's being well served."
Mr Brown said in tight times it looks like a large rates rise, but it is the right thing to do.
Councillors voted for higher rates to repay debt including the Otago Stadium. Photo: RNZ
